On the 7th of next month, the 9th Asian Winter Games will kick off in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China. With the slogan "Dream of Winter, Love among Asia", the competition will start with the opening ceremony at the Harbin International Convention and Exhibition Center and will start a fierce competition for eight days on the 14th of next month.

Billboard of the Asian Winter Games in Harbin

Skiing and other snow sports will be held at Yabuli Resort in Heilongjiang Province, about 200 kilometers from Harbin. This year's Asian Winter Games will be held for the first time in eight years since the 8th Sapporo Asian Winter Games in 2017. The 2021 Games, which were supposed to be held after Sapporo, were cancelled due to difficulties in selecting the venue and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and it took a long time to restart.

After the 7th Asian Games were held in Astana and Almaty in Kazakhstan in 2011, the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo were held in 2017 after a gap of six years, and this time it was held again after eight years.

The slogan of the Asian Winter Games at the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

After the Harbin Asian Winter Games, the 10th Asian Winter Games will be held in Saudi Arabia in 2029, four years later. After Harbin in 1996 and Changchun in 2007, China will host the Asian Winter Games for the third time in history, and after the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, it will host the international winter sports competition again after three years.

Returning to Harbin after 29 years, this Asian Winter Games set up a total of 6 major events, 11 sub-events, and 64 small events. The six sports are ice skating, skiing, curling, ice hockey, biathlon and ski mountaineering. Among them, ice skating is divided into figure skating, short track speed skating, speed skating, and skiing is divided into alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding and other small events. Curling mixed pairs and freestyle skiing aerials pairs are new additions to this year's Asian Winter Games.

The South Korean team celebrates after winning the gold medal in the 4th stop of the 2025 International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track Speed Skating World Tour Mixed Relay Final

Before the official opening, the curling and ice hockey tournament schedule will start on February 5. It is expected that more than 1,500 athletes from 34 countries and regions will participate in this Asian Games, which is the largest number of participants in the previous Asian Winter Games.

South Korea will form a team of more than 220 players, including 150 players. South Korea won the most gold medals in a single tournament at the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, finishing second in the medal table (16 gold, 18 silver, 16 bronze) after Japan (27 gold, 21 silver, 26 bronze). South Korean media said that they are looking forward to fierce competition with Japan and the host Chinese team at this Asian Winter Games.

South Korean men's singles star Cha Jun-hwan who started his acting skills

It is worth mentioning that the competition is one year away from the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics, which is a rehearsal stage for those preparing for the Winter Olympics, and whether the Korean delegation can break the record for the most gold medals and build momentum with good results will attract attention. Signature athletes such as Choi Min-jeong, Kim Ji-gil (Kumquat-ri), and Park Ji-won will compete in short track speed skating, which is traditionally an advantage, while representatives such as Kim Jun-ho and Cha Min-kyu will also participate in speed skating. Men's figure skating player Cha Jun-hwan is already a gold medal candidate who has won a World Championship. The women's curling and mixed pairs, men's ice hockey, and snowboard men's halfpipe (Lee Chao-eun) are also considered to be events in which the Korean team can challenge for gold medals.

South Korean media said that Harbin, China's representative "ice and snow capital", is also expected to experience severe cold weather during the competition, and participants must fight against the cold. According to the forecast, the minimum temperature in Harbin is still around minus 20 degrees, and the minimum temperature will drop below minus 20 degrees during the competition. The maximum temperature of the day is only below zero, and there are many days when the temperature is around -10 degrees Celsius.